Young, impatient, and intersectional: Gen Z activists tackle abortion
“Thank you, Senator Blumenthal. ... We appreciate you!”
Rosie Couture, shouting like a fangirl at the Connecticut Democrat as he walks by, is set up outside the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill. It’s a hot summer afternoon, and she’s there with some 15 other teens for a “teach-in” on the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) – a cause Sen. Richard Blumenthal supports.
Propped up on the sidewalk, a hand-printed piece of cardboard bears the amendment’s core provision: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”
Next to it, a sheet is laid out on the sidewalk with the words “Defend Abortion = ERA Now.”
Ms. Couture, a recent high school graduate from suburban Virginia, believes getting the 1970s-vintage ERA certified as part of the United States Constitution could provide the quickest path to reestablishing a constitutional right to abortion. And in the weeks since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, she and her peers have been on a mission to get it done.
In the legal world, this take on the ERA’s potential to help secure abortion rights, at least anytime soon, is largely seen as a long shot. But these Generation Z activists are undeterred by the skepticism of their elders, whom they see as failing to meet the moment
